3 visuals for webpage

This code will help produce the three visuals that are going to be a part of each equity tracker indicator webpage: regional map (tract level) of most recent data, chart of the most recent data, chart of trends over time.

If the indicator is a PUMS/OPSI indicator that can be accessed through Elmer. Getting the data to a workable version may require some data transformation. To explore, clean, transform, and generate a final data set, please use the data-gen-pums-template. This script will generate an .rda for the map and an .rda for the charts. These data sets will be loaded in before the data visualization code.

Indicator Explanation

Access to affordable rent helps to ensure that people can choose to live in safe and stable housing that is located in neighborhoods with the services and amenities they require. Increasing access to housing provides greater opportunity for households to choose where they can live.

For this measure, we are focused on renting households and define access to affordable rent as the share of census tracts where households can afford to live by spending 30% or less of their income on rent. This indicator is determined based on the median gross rent of the location and the median household income for the region or a specific group of people. At its most basic, we are visualizing where and what proportion of tracts can a typical renter afford the typical rent?

1. Map of most recent data

To map data in this form, it requires accessing data at the regional/tract level from ACS since the Elmer data set is already aggregated to equity group/quintile.

Create Visual

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2021 5-Year Estimates; U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division 2020 TIGER/Line Shapefiles
* The regional affordability threshold is defined as 30% of the regional monthly median household income



Data call outs

  1. $1,640: Regional affordability threshold
  2. 39%: Share of tracts where rent is affordable based on the regional median household income
  3. 1/4: King County has the lowest proportion of tracts with affordable rent


Insights & Analysis

  • Access to affordable rent is highest in Kitsap (69%), followe by Pierce County (60%), Snohomish (42%), and King (25%)
  • Ten census tracts tied with the highest median gross rent ($3,500) are all in King County: three in southern Mercer Island, two in Clyde Hill/Hunts Point/Medina/Yarrow Point, three in Bellevue, two in Sammamish
  • The highest median gross rent in Pierce, Kitsap, and Snohomish County are: in Tehaleh community south of Bonney Lake ($2,800), in the southwestern portion of Bainbridge ($3,500), and southern Mukilteo ($3,400)
  • More affordable rents are seen in south Seattle, south King County, Tacoma/central Pierce County, along the I-5 corridor in Snohomish County, and in communities farther out from the region’s urban core



2. Facet of most recent data

Create Visual

Access to Affordable Rent

Number of census tracts that are affordable based on median gross rent and median household income

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2021 5-Year Estimates; U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division 2020 TIGER/Line Shapefiles

Data call outs

  1. 3/4: Three out of four census tracts are affordable for people with a disability
  2. 23%: Share of affordable tracts for households with limited English proficiency, a 71 percentage point difference compared to English-proficient households
  3. 19%: Difference in the share of affordable tracts between households with older adults and other households


Insights & Analysis

  • People of color have slightly lower access to affordable rent in all counties compared to white non-Hispanic, except in Snohomish County where both groups are able to afford rent in 91% of the census tracts
  • This small difference between the people of color and white non-Hispanic groups is in part driven by high median household incomes for certain Asian households. More information about the way in which the Asian subgroup differs in housing opportunities from other racial subgroups is available in the Regional Housing Strategy: 2023 Monitoring Report. Within the Asian racial group, there is also great diversity and disparities experienced by different Asian subgroups, as described in a PSRC blog post from 2022
  • For households living below 200% of poverty level, Pierce County is the only county where there is one affordable tract (out of 193, or 1%)
  • The disparity in access to affordable rent between households with older adults and other households is greatest in Snohomish County (22%) and King (21%), and much smaller in Pierce (8%) and Kitsap (5%)



3. Facet of trend data

Create Visual

Access to Affordable Rent

Number of census tracts that are affordable based on median gross rent and median household income

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2021 5-Year Estimates; U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division 2020 TIGER/Line Shapefiles

Data call outs

  1. 150%: Households in the region living below 200% of federal poverty line paid 150% more in 2021 than in 2011
  2. $100: Regionally, people of color spend an average $100 less in median gross rent than white non-Hispanic households, a gap which has remained relatively consistent in King County in the last ten years, but has narrowed in Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties
  3. 100%: Median gross rent of households in the region with older adults is $400 lower than households without older adults, an increase of 100% from 2011


Insights & Analysis

  • Median gross rent has consistently increased across the entire region from 2011 to 2021
  • Median gross rent of households (regardless of income) stayed relatively static in Kitsap and Pierce County over time, while median gross rent of households increased greatly in King County (more than 55% for households who are below 200% of federal poverty level and 64% for those living above)
  • Similarly, in Snohomish County, households living below 200% of poverty level are paying 45% more than they did in 2011 and 54% more for those living above
  • The gap in median gross rent between people with a disability compared to those living without remained relatively consistent in all counties (from 2016 to 2021)



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